The Texas in the Civil War Message Board

Russell,FYI...The prisoners were loaded on the decks of old cattle boats and hauled down the Arkansas to the Mississippi where they had hoped to go south downriver to Vicksburg for exchange.Unfortunately the boats then turned north upriver and then they all knew they were going to prison.Thats when the storm hit.Ice,snow and freezing wind and only a fortunate few were able to get below deck.It was GRANT that overrode the decision to exchange the Prisoners at Vicksburg.The men were exposed on the decks of those boats for many days up to and also at and near St Louis before the federals figured out what to do with them.I would speculate that is when your GF got pneumonia.That boat ride killed Captain Alf Johnson as well and he's also buried at Jefferson Barracks.